The birds that had appeared suddenly were obviously something sinister that could easily kill both Reyna and Clarisse where they stood. They swooped in to attack, and the two girls ran back down the hall that they had come from.

Reyna cursed herself for letting her alliance split up. Nancy had insisted that they cover more ground, and Reyna had allowed her and Octavian to go off together. They had decided to go left every time and go back after 30 turns, but Reyna was feeling worse and worse about her decision. She had understood how temperamental Nancy was, and that the girl from 1 might have snapped and tried to kill her if she hadn't allowed her to have her way for once. Still, Reyna wondered if Hylla would have done something differently. She would have known what to do. She wouldn't have let Nancy get her way after whining for so long. And now Reyna and Clarisse were on their own to face these demonic birds.

Reyna tried to turn left when she got to the next crossroads, but the birds blocked her path. Reyna turned right, trying to record it. She had to make sure she could find her way back. The birds pecked at her hands, her face, any open skin. Reyna flapped her hands around, smacking birds, trying to keep them from eating her. She could make out Clarisse's form somewhere in front of her. Reyna tried to follow her ally.

Suddenly, the birds stopped. Reyna immediately realized what had been happening. She and Clarisse were standing in a large gray room with seats all around them, and two other tributes: Percy and Leo. Clarisse growled as she saw her district partner, and Reyna also felt a twinge of anger at the sight of her ex-ally. Percy Jackson was a traitor, and that was the one thing that she hated the most.

Percy's entrance seemed to be blocked by some glass. Behind it was something dark—water, Reyna realized. The one that Leo had come from no longer existed, rather, there was a small indent in the wall indicating that he had come from somewhere.

The birds still blocked Reyna and Clarisse's exit. Reyna understood that to leave this room, someone had to die.

Percy wasn't to be trifled with, and Leo had also scored relatively well—too well for someone from District 3. It would be fortuitious to kill him now before he could come back with a vengeance later and possibly kill her. Reyna knew that she and Clarisse could probably do it without too much trouble.

Percy didn't like the way that Reyna was looking at him. She was sizing him up, wasn't she? Enough people had done that before that he knew when to recognize it. He was kind of scared at the idea of going up against the two Career girls. They had both gotten 10s, higher than he and Leo. Not to mention, they were in an alliance. Percy had no idea if Leo would trust him. And Percy was completely soaked, starting to shiver, and couldn't get his mind off of Annabeth. Where was she? Had the cannon that had sounded in the last hour been hers? He had just been getting to know the girl. Percy looked at Leo again—Annabeth's district partner. Surely Leo would trust him, right?

"How do you want to do this?" Clarisse muttered to Reyna.

"We go back to back and attack Percy. If Leo tries to help him, you take him down."

That sounded fine to Clarisse, but then again, she was taking an awfully passive role. "Don't underestimate me, Princess. I can take down Jackson just fine."

"And face the hate of your district?" Reyna reminded her. Clarisse reddened. She hadn't thought of that.

"Fine. Let's go."

Leo clutched his weapons as the two girls charged Percy. They were ignoring him! That was just offensive…focus! Leo reminded himself that they would kill him once they were done with Percy.

"Leo!" Percy yelled. "How about an alliance?"

Leo was shocked. Why was Percy asking for his help? He was a Career. Had something gone wrong to make his allies hate him? Leo wracked his mind. Had Percy attacked him at the Cornucopia with the rest of the Careers? With Piper?

"No thanks." Leo began edging away, but there were no exits. Suddenly, the spherical object in his hands felt a whole lot heavier.

"We have to! They'll kill us both!" Percy sounded desperate. But his allies, his district, had killed Piper…

Piper.

She would want him to help whoever her killers were attacking.

It was time for him to get his revenge.

Earlier that day, when he and Jason were still wandering around together, his mentor Charles Beckendorf had sent him his first sponsor gift. It was a single plastic circle with a wick coming out of the top. Leo had smelled it, listened to the noise as he had shaken it, and come to one conclusion. It was filled with blasting powder.

Leo could recall days spent in school back in District 3. In the pre-Hunger Games days, an ancient civilization had used blasting powder to power their weapons. It was called gunpowder. Today's technology eliminated all need for it, but it was still a powerful explosive. It must have drained all of Leo's sponsor money.

All that Leo needed was something to light it with, and that was obvious from the walls. Leo might not have been a miner from 2 or 12 or wherever, but he knew enough to recognize flint.

And he knew that flint, hit with his steel hammer, could make a spark.

Percy was getting desperate. He parried Reyna's knife on his sword and moved out of the way of Clarisse's spear, but they were backing him into a corner. Percy thrusted at the two girls, trying to fight his way out. He was just as strong as either one of them individually, but together, Percy couldn't imagine beating both of them together. And his attempt at getting Leo's help had failed. He was going to die. Percy imagined his mother and Tyson watching at home, and found himself filled with new strength. No. He had to survive.

His next blow caught Clarisse on the arm. The girl cursed, but kept on fighting. Her spear was quick and her blows fierce. Percy knew that she had been training for at least 10 years with both a spear and trident, and that she worked on a fishing ship. This time, though, he would be the fish with the misfortune of being caught on a weapon, life disregarded…

"Percy, run!"

It was Leo.

He was smashing his hammer into the wall.

What the hell did he think he was doing?

"Shit!" Reyna yelled, and then all three of them were frozen in place, and then Leo threw whatever he was holding.

Huh.

Leo was almost impressed at just how damaging the blasting powder had been. He hadn't heard any cannons, but all three tributes from the lower districts had been thrown backwards. Clarisse had smashed into the wall, Reyna had been thrown all the way into the seats, and Percy was on the ground. The floor where Leo's explosive had landed was blackened. Leo was disappointed that he hadn't managed to kill anyone, but they were out of commission for the moment. The exits hadn't been unblocked, though.

Leo realized that to leave, he would have to kill someone here. And if he was smart, he should kill everyone. It was the only way to preserve his own life. He could remove many of the threats to his life in one fell swoop.

Still, the idea sickened him. The idea of Harley, or even Nyssa, Shane, watching him kill someone with no way to fight back? Awful! Then again, which was better? Watching him kill or watching him die? Would he really survive if he killed anyone? Life was so much easier without philosophical questions!

"Nice," a voice said.

Leo's heart jumped into his throat. His ears buzzed. But it was just Percy, trying to push himself off of the ground. "I didn't see that coming."

"Glad to help," Leo lied.

"I think we need to kill them," Percy said.

Leo shrugged.

Percy nodded at him. "I'll do it, then."

The green-eyed boy walked forward, trying to work up his courage. Now that the time had come to kill, he had lost all of his resolve.

Then Leo screamed.

Clarisse couldn't help but feel satisfied as the boy from 3 screamed. Really? He thought that he could just attack them like that and get away with it? Now while Clarisse was around! She would prove him wrong. She would prove everyone wrong! She could win this. A little bit of explosiveness couldn't change that.

Clarisse ripped her spear out of Valdez—had it gone all the way through him?—and charged Jackson. Her district partner leapt into the bleachers, holding his sword at Reyna's throat. "Clarisse, don't do this."

"Screw you, Jackson." Clarisse considered letting him kill Princess, but something about that didn't sit right with her. Princess was still valuable. Clarisse threw her spear.

Percy dove, but now he wasn't near Princess, and Clarisse launched herself into the stands with him. Reyna groaned on the ground. She didn't look too good. Clarisse kicked at Percy, hitting him in the shin, but he still had his sword. Clarisse ducked and swooped up again, picking up Reyna's knife, blocking his sword. She stabbed again, cursing the small length of the knife. Still, she managed to fend off Percy.

Back in 4, some of the old folks talked about 'premonitions' or whatever. Clarisse's father, Ares La Rue, always scoffed at that and called her a fool for even thinking about them. "We're not savages from Seven," he told her. "I don't want to hear you talking about them ever again."

Still, Clarisse felt one of them come over her as she and her district partner faced each other. Something bad was going to happen.

Five seconds later, Percy's sword cut into her shoulder.

Six seconds later, Reyna's knife left her hand and slammed into Percy's lower leg.

Seven seconds later, the glass that had been blocking all of the water from coming in began to open.

Eight seconds later, the room began to flood.

Clarisse realized what was going on. All four of the tributes in the room were injured, too close to dying. The Gamemakers didn't want to lose them all so quickly. So they were breaking up the fight.

It was time to go.

Clarisse grabbed Reyna and dragged her through the water out the door that they had came through, now unblocked.

Percy didn't bother watching the two girls go. He flipped himself over the railing to the bleachers and slogged over to Leo, who was lying on the ground. His stomach turned. Leo looked bad. There was a bloody wound through his stomach, probably fatal. But there had been no cannons yet…Percy picked Leo up and carried him back to the bleachers. The water wasn't rising too quickly. Percy could save him. He had to pay Leo back.

Leo screamed the moment that Percy tried to touch his wound. "Okay!" Percy said, hastily pulling back. "Sorry! I'm just trying to help!"

"Harley," Leo groaned.

"Y-yeah. Um, Harley."

"Nyssa! Nyssa! Mom!"

"Don't talk," Percy ordered. "Just stay still. I can fix this!" But deep down, he knew that he was helpless. Clarisse had speared the younger boy through. The water was still rising. In a few moments, it would reach the bleachers. Percy picked him up again, his arms screaming, and set him down a few levels up.

"H-Harley," Leo begged.

What was Percy supposed to do? He felt more at a loss then he ever had before. "Yeah. It's me. Harley."

"Harley," Leo weakly repeated.

"What is it?" Percy asked, trying to sound gentle.

"Mom?" Leo asked.

"Yes. Mom."

"Harley, I'm gonna see Mom again. You just…you be g-good. Stay with Nyssa. She'll take care of you."

Leo was obviously delirious, and Percy didn't know what to do. He let the boy keep talking. Leo continued, "I love you so much. I, I'm—"

Leo suddenly kicked out, bleeding even more now. The water had almost reached them. "Mom?"

"Yes, Leo?"

"C-can you sing?"

The request seemed ridiculous. Percy didn't sing. He couldn't. But he couldn't bring himself to ignore the boy's last wish. Percy began, a lullaby that people sang on boats sometimes. He could remember his own mother singing it sometimes, to Tyson, to him. He liked to imagine his father singing it, too, before he had died.

"Over the ocean, far across the sea
There is a safe place for just you and me
A sky that's blue, no rain at all
The sun, the moon, the birds that call
Over the ocean, far across the sea
Lies a place where you can be free."

The cannon fired a few moments later. Percy didn't need any confirmation that it was Leo's. His hand went cold. Percy closed his eyes, arranged his hands around his hammer. It didn't seem like enough. Knowing how stupid he was, Percy pulled off his jacket and lay it over Leo, hiding the wound.

Percy jumped into the water, willing himself to keep swimming forward. He had to keep moving.

He had to move on.

Tributes:

D1: Nancy Bobofit
D2: Reyna Ramirez-Arellano
D3: Annabeth Chase
D4: Percy Jackson; Clarisse La Rue
D5: Jason Grace
D7: Grover Underwood
D8: Ethan Nakamura
D9: Will Solace
D10: Frank Zhang; Hazel Levesque
D11: Katie Gardner
D12: Nico di Angelo; Zoe Nightshade

Any suggestions?